[tasla] FW: Speak Up Survey

[Mary M Woodard]

Please see the message from Gloria Meraz below regarding the Speak Up Survey.

Thanks!


Mary M. Woodard
President, TASLA
Director - Library Services
Mesquite ISD

800 E. Kearney
Mesquite, TX 75149

972-882-5548 (office)
972-882-5467 (fax)

mwoodard at mesquiteisd.org

Blog - Top Shelf: the "Best Stuff" for School Librarians<http://topshelf.edublogs.org/>

MISD Libraries: Connecting - Collaborating - Creating





From: Gloria Meraz [mailto:gloriam at txla.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:27 PM
To: Mary M Woodard
Cc: Gloria Meraz
Subject: Speak Up Survey

Dear Mary,

Would you please forward this message to the TASLA list for me? I'm really trying to make sure as many librarians respond to the Speak Up survey as possible.

Thanks,
Gloria


Gloria Meraz

Director of Communications

Texas Library Association

3355 Bee Cave Road, Ste. 401

Austin, TX 78746

512/328-1518; 800/580-2852

(fax)512/328-8852

www.txla.org

________________________________

Dear School Library Administrators,

You may have seen some of the messages I sent last week to the TLC and TASL lists about the Speak Up survey. Essentially, the survey takes feedback from educators, parents, and students on the role of technology in education. This year, TLA is working with Project Tomorrow, which administers the survey, to make Texas a pilot state for gathering information from school librarians. If we get enough responses, a special school librarian category may be added to the national 2010 survey.

When I sent out the original message, Texas librarians began to respond immediately (not a big surprise!). That effort did uncover some logistical difficulties. Through this pilot process, the Project Tomorrow folks identified a key area to address: making it easy for librarians to fill out the survey. That means registering them to take the survey or (if their school is already registered) to help them gain the needed password to take the survey.

I sent several rounds of emails with instructions last week, so I think we finally have some workable instructions. In speaking with the Project Tomorrow folks, they suggested that district library administrators register all the campuses (if they were not already registered) and send out the password to their district librarians. I think many of you may have already done that. The Project Tomorrow folks asked that I let you all know that you can email the Project Tomorrow folks and get the password so that you can simplify the process for your librarians. I also ask that you take this opportunity to encourage librarians to take the survey if they have not already done so.

We really want to be able to make the case to add the independent librarian category next year. The data is very robust, and I think can be very helpful to us here in Texas and nationally.

In any event, the instructions for contacting Project Tomorrow are listed below. I've included the bulk of the emails I sent last week. Thank you, in advance, for your assistance with this project. Also, just a quick reminder, as administrators, you can also complete the survey. You just need to pick a school and submit your response through a particular campus.

All my best,
Gloria


Instructions

In this message:
I. Registering a school or district
II. Getting the "secret word" if your district is already registered
III. If you are a school library administrator for the district

I am including additional information on the registration process for the Speak Up survey. The Project Tomorrow folks are already very impressed with the number of responses coming in from Texas, and you all serving as the pilot state for school librarians is helping identify issues on how to clarify the participation process. So, thanks to you all for your patience and persistence.

I. Registering a school or district
Okay, if you tried to input your school, and it is not showing up, your school is not registered. So you will need to do that. Please scroll down on the screen.

Directions to register a school...

Registration for Speak Up --

1) Visit http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/ and click on the Register for Speak Up icon
2) Select I want to register one or more schools
3) Select the state: TX and enter the first few letters of their school district - click find district
4) A list of schools for the district will appear - select the school to be registered
5) Enter the contact info and click save
6) A confirmation email will be sent

Directions to register a school district...

Registration for Speak Up --

1) Visit http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/ and click on the Register for Speak Up icon
2) Select I want to register my school district
3) Select the state: TX and enter the first few letters of their school district - click find district
4) Enter the contact and click save
5) Select the schools that will be participating (or select all) and save
6) A confirmation email will be sent

II. Getting the "secret word" if your district is already registered
If you are being asked about a "secret word," that means that your campus has already been registered.

1) You can contact your principal or school administrator to ask what that password is. The Project Tomorrow folks will send an email in the next couple of days to the survey contact at your school or district and ask them to share that password with school librarians. So, you can complete the survey next week. (I'll send out a friendly reminder!)
-OR-
2) You can also email speakup at tomorrow.org<mailto:speakup at tomorrow.org> for the "secret word" for your district. In the email, please include your school's name, your ISD name, and note that you are in Texas.

III. If you are a school library administrator for the district
If you are a school library administrator for the district, you can take the survey by taking the teacher survey and registering as a school librarian. You can choose any school in your district and submit your response through that campus.

Thanks to you all who have already submitted the survey. And thanks to you all who are trying. Please, don't give up. We need all your responses.


Background
We ask all school librarians to complete an online survey conducted by Project Tomorrow (http://www.tomorrow.org/). The survey, Speak Up 2009, may be very familiar to you. Numerous schools in Texas already participate in this national effort aimed at collecting perspectives from students, teachers, librarians, and administrators on the use of and needs for technology in education.

To take the survey, go to: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/.

This survey has been conducted for several years and is the only national instrument that collects such broad information on the national level from so many stakeholders. The findings of the survey are very much used in decision-making at the state and national level.

Texas School Librarians Can Save the World!

This year, TLA was approached by Project Tomorrow planners to establish a test year for Texas. If Texas can show a high number of school librarians answering the survey, then for 2010, school librarians may gain the chance to have their own category in this national survey in 2010. That means that school librarian specific data will be collected at the national level with state level data available. This is an incredible opportunity, and I KNOW that the Texas library community will meet this challenge.

The survey is live now and will remain open until December 18. Please respond as soon as you can. You must sign on to the teacher survey and then the first question will ask you about your job responsibility. Be sure to check the "librarian or media coordinator" category. Again, if we get enough school librarians filling out the survey, it may be possible to get a school librarian category listed alongside teachers and administrators in next year's survey.

Additionally, there are a few pilot questions for the 6-8th grade student set. Two of these test questions specifically inquire about library services and resources. The data should be fascinating!

We need your help for this wonderful project. Please spread the word among your colleagues. We need every single school librarian in Texas to participate.



Gloria Meraz

Director of Communications

Texas Library Association

3355 Bee Cave Road, Ste. 401

Austin, TX 78746

512/328-1518; 800/580-2852

(fax)512/328-8852

www.txla.org


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